1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to clothes driers and, more specifically, to a heating element assembly for a clothes drier.
2. Background Art
In a typical clothes drier, warm air is conveyed through a rotating drum accommodating wet clothes so as to cause the moisture in the wet clothes to evaporate. The rotating drum is provided with vanes to entrain the clothes in a tumbling action, thereby fully exposing the clothes to the warm air.
Before being drawn to the rotating drum, air is passed through a heating element. A typical heating element assembly of a clothes drier is illustrated at 10 in FIG. 1 of the prior art. The heating element assembly 10 has a heating wire coil 11 (e.g., consisting of standard nichrome wire), forming a semi-circular shape. The coil 11 is circumferentially held in a housing 12, by a plurality of hoops 13 through which the coil 11 passes. The housing 12 forms a plenum with a rear end of the drum of the drier, through which air is drawn to reach the drum. In doing so, air passes across the coil 11 and is hence heated by the coil 11.
The coil 11 of the heating element assembly 10 of the prior art tends to migrate downwardly through the combined effects of gravity and thermal expansion and contraction. As air passes across the coil 11 in its entirety, the downward migration of the coil 11 results in an inefficient heat exchange between the coil 11 and the air passing therethrough. The upper portion of the coil 11 will also be exceedingly stretched, which may lead to a shortened life for the coil 11. Moreover, the installation and replacement of the coil 11 is a lengthy procedure in which the coil 11 must be threaded through each one of the hoops 13.